I believe Nei Li is love, as a name chosen for her out of love when she was a baby, and Selkie is pain, as a name given to her out of not-knowing-her-real-name after her mom abandoned her to a bunch of strangers (from Selkie’s point of view). Just my personal interpretation, though.

I keep thinking of Truck’s parents and their threat to raise Caine at the PTA meeting about Selkie. And my thoughts come back to Todd needing to repeat “Put my daughter in the hospital” at top volume.

I like Selkie’s dream sequences. Both the visual style fits very well for a dreamtime, and then how she’s subconsciously dealing with things too. Actually changing her name to Nei Li will require some work though. She’ll have to refuse to answer to Selkie repeatedly for quite a while.

Given that it has been awhile since the hospital visit (since she’s had time to recover), there may not be much Cain raised, since I’m fairly sure that Agent Brown wasted no time in delivering a tirade straight to Mr and Mrs Trunchbull’s front door. And the principal’s too.

Pain is a fast path to power, or in this case, self-awareness and inner strength for a child. If you can withstand pain, you can withstand anything. Love is slower, however it can endure better than pain as it’s something that one must work towards. The two paths will result in the same destination. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. However, which path she chooses will result in the person she will become.